The present invention relates to apparatus for dispensing liquid soap, normally in discrete small quantities or charges. Such dispensing apparatus is used, particularly for hygienic purposes, in public or institutional washrooms or the like or wherever there are a relatively large number of different users.
One such dispenser is disclosed in Cassia U.S. Pat. No. 4,149,573, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, and of which the present invention is an improvement. In the system of the '573 patent, a container is provided with a refill aperture which is dimensioned so that at equal pressure inside and outside said container liquid soap will flow therethrough only very slowly if at all. Thus, in refilling the container, a special squeeze-bottle type refill cartridge is used in order to force the soap through the refill aperture, the cartridge outlet being closed by a pierceable membrane which is ruptured by a piercing member adjacent to the refill aperture to permit the flow of liquid soap from the refill cartridge.
While this prior dispensing system works effectively, it has been found that an inconveniently long time is required for a serviceman to squeeze the contents of the refill cartridge into the reservoir of the dispenser. Generally quite a few squeezes of the refill cartridge are necessary in order completely to empty it, and if the serviceman does not completely empty the container, considerabe soap wastage results.
In order to alleviate these and other disadvantages, a system was devised by Cassia wherein a semi rigid refill container was positioned in the refill compartment of a soap container which also had a reservoir compartment. This system while advantageous in many aspects retains the disadvantage of having a foil or rupturable membrane on the refill container along with a cooperating piercing member in the soap dispenser. This permits inadvertent puncture of the foil membrane resulting in wasted product and undesirable clean up requirements.